Aviation Safety

At about 13:30 EDT, a Challenger II experimental airplane began to flutter and went out of control. The aircraft received substantial damage but the pilot was not injured. The pilot said he was in phase 1 of the flight test program for the homebuilt aircraft, which had accumulated about 7 total flight hours. He was attempting to fly the aircraft to the calculated never exceed speed of 120 mph, but as he hit 115 mph, the aircraft began to flutter and went out of control. He activated the ballistic safety parachute and landed safely….

At about 18:44 EST, a Cessna 150F lost power on final approach and made a forced landing on an interstate highway. The two occupants were not injured but airplane sustained substantial damage. The flight originated from Enterprise, Ala., 3 hours, 4 minutes before the accident. The pilot said he climbed to 3,500 feet and was vectored around restricted areas. He then climbed to 5,500 feet and cruised at 75 percent power until he reached Macon, Ga., where he descended to 3,500 feet. He then descended to 2,000 feet when he was instructed to contact Columbia tower. He was being sequenced for landing on runway 29 when, about 2 miles from the airport, the engine quit. He made a shallow turn to the…

At 14:12 EDT, a Beech Travelair crashed near Shawsville, and the four occupants died. The pilot had been given an IFR clearance and had advised the tower that he had Information Romeo, which contained a HIWAS alert for moderate to occasional severe turbulence below 12,000 feet due to northwesterly winds over rough terrain along the airplanes proposed route of flight. The tower controller asked for a pilot report shortly after clearing the flight to climb to 8,000 feet, but the pilot did not respond and the airplane disappeared from radar. The controller said the airplane had reached an altitude of 6,700 feet before he lost track of the target. Pilots in a Cessna 182, Piper Cherokee and…

At about 14:50 PST, a Cessna 172RG suffered a catastrophic engine failure and nosed over during the subsequent off-airport landing. The aircraft departed San Diego at about 13:15 enroute to Camarillo on a cross-country training flight. No one was injured. The instructor said they were cruising at 4,000 feet when he heard a loud bang from the engine compartment and saw flames by the rudder pedals. He turned the fuel off and began a rapid descent. He said the fire went out and he set up to land in a plowed field. After touchdown, he held the nose up as long as possible. When the nose wheel dropped into the soft dirt, it dug in and the aircraft nosed over. An inspector observed that a cylinder…

About 11:10 EDT, an American AA-5 struck a tree after an inadvertent encounter with IMC. The two occupants were not injured. The pilot and his son were returning from Florida to New York and had stopped for the night in Staunton, Va., due to widespread IFR conditions. The pilot was instrument rated and the airplane was legal for IFR flight, but the pilot said that he had not planned on conducting IFR operations on this trip, and because of his limited IFR experience, he would only conduct VFR operations. He encountered turbulence along the route as he tried to stay VFR in a valley where the mountain tops on each side were obscured by clouds. The airplane entered the clouds and the severity o…

At 21:30 CDT, the pilot of a Beech Sundowner was killed when he lost control in severe weather. Witnesses reported IMC prevailed at the time of the accident but there was no flight plan. Two witnesses reported seeing the airplane flying about one mile northeast of the Mandan Municipal Airport during a thunderstorm. One of the witnesses said she saw the airplane pitching up and down and rolling left and right violently before losing sight of it due to very heavy rain. The second witness said the wind was so gusty it almost pushed his car off the road. The airplanes ground impact location was in a field, with vegetation bent almost parallel to the ground about 300 feet around the impact point…

About 12:30 EDT, two Piper Cubs in a flight of three crashed near Dawson. One passenger was killed, the two pilots and another passenger were seriously injured. At about 09:30, a flight of four Cubs left Lock Haven, Pa., where the pilots and passengers had been attending a Piper Cub fly-in. The four airplanes arrived at High Rock Airport in Dawson at about 11:20. One airplane remained at High Rock, and the other three were fueled with auto fuel. The airport owner briefed the pilots on the airport departure procedures, and the pilots elected to depart to the north. The first airplane to depart was a Cub powered by a 65 hp engine and carried only the pilot. The second airplane to depart, a Pip…

At 16:28 CDT, a Piper Seneca was damaged during a forced landing near Laredo. The pilot and two passengers were not injured. The flight originated in San Antonio, at which time the right fuel gauge indicated 35 gallons and the left tank indicated somewhat higher, according to the pilot. Approximately 40 minutes into the flight the ammeter began indicating a failure, so the pilot turned off unnecessary electrical equipment. He then saw the left fuel gauge go from eight gallons indicated to zero and the right gauge go from 20 gallons indicated to zero. Subsequently both engines lost power. He set up to land on a road, but traffic forced him to land adjacent to the road and the right wing str…

About 21:40 EDT, a Cessna 182 was substantially damaged when it overran the runway on a downwind landing at the New London Airport. Neither occupant was injured. The airplane touched down on the 3,164-foot runway 34 at 60-65 mph with 30 degrees of flaps. The airplane bounced once, began to float, and touched down again with about 240 feet of runway remaining. The pilot braked heavily, but the airplane ran off the end of the runway and came to rest inverted on the side of a road. A nearby airport reported winds of 190 degrees at 10 knots….

At 13:45 CDT, a Cessna 172R was damaged when it veered off the runway on landing at the Kokomo Municipal Airport. The student pilot, who was making his first solo takeoff and landing, was not injured. After landing, the aircraft veered off the left side of runway 23 and struck the VOR station with the left wing and the nose of the aircraft….